Sorry, but I think you read too much into the 'landing the fish means I am a better fisherman' thing. For myself, when I talk about the net helping me land a fish, it's not so I can add it to a fish count. It's more about getting the fish in so that the fly can be removed and the safely released. Even on small creeks and with small fish, a certain percentage of fish hooked just don't settle down for easy hook removal.
Take this fish for example:
Notice how deep the fly is in his mouth. That's a #12 or 14 stimi. All that is visible of the fly is the eye of the hook. I was surprised at how far he got that thing in his mouth.
The fly was so big in comparison to the fishes mouth that cutting it off was not, IMO, an option. It had to come out if the fish were to live, I thought. Luckily in this case the hook was caught in the center of the mouth and not in the gills. Also a surprise considering how deep it was. I still needed the forceps/hemostats to remove it. I needed the net in this case to corral the fish safely while I got the tool to hand and positioned myself in such a way that I'd not slip or anything while doing the removal. I think I used the net on, maybe, three or four fish this day. None were large, just in situations where the net seemed the safer option for the fish.
Hopefully he survived the experience. I kept him in the water as much as possible while dealing with him. Especially after I realised the issue with the fly.